Lukashenko hosts conference to discuss civil society, political parties, public associations

Bills regulating the development of civil society, work of political parties and public associations are discussed at a conference hosted by Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko, BelTA has learned.

The president had previously given instructions to create the legal foundation for political party system development and the development of a civil society in Belarus. Participants of the conference are expected to discuss a bill on civil society and a bill on amending the laws regulating the operation of political parties and other public associations.

Both bills are of vital importance, Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked.

He remarked right away that the discussion of the relevant bills would meet severe criticism from supporters and opponents of the government.

The president said: “Our supporters will criticize us (and rightly so) for going ahead with it and launching party construction processes in the country at a wrong time. And the creation of political parties as a result. It is not the right time for it. The situation in the world is extremely tense. In such times any state starts mobilizing and concentrating around one or two figures and so on. In Belarus it is the president according to the Constitution, it is unavoidable. But here we start building the political party system and new parties will emerge. Naturally new centers of force will emerge. Naturally the society will be structured. People will be mobilized around these parties. So at a time when we have to unite, we seem to be launching the process of some disunity. So our supporters will criticize us and they will be right.”

On the other hand, if the bills are passed, they will face criticism due to the lack of democracy, due to the creation of some peculiar political system. “On the whole, we will be criticized for insufficient radicalism,” the president believes.

Aleksandr Lukashenko went on saying: “But I proceed from what we’ve promised. Back in the day before the Constitution was adopted. And the Constitution reflected it. We promised to our society that we will address these issues. Since we’ve promised it, we have to act on these promises. It seems we adopted the Constitution at a wrong time either. Our supporters criticized us for it, saying people were not ready and urging us to reject the idea. But it turned out that people are smarter than us. They backed the Constitution, we passed it. The constitutional reform process made our society stronger instead of disuniting it. This is why we have to do it since we’ve promised it. I think we will calmly go through this stage despite domestic complications (there is no need for simplification) and foreign ones.”